Last month, the New Orleans Film Society got local film buffs all atwitter when it leaked the titles of some of the high-profile films to headline October's 21st New Orleans Film Festival -- buzz-worthy titles such as Danny Boyle's "127 Hours," Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" and the locally shot "Welcome to the Rileys."

An image from the documentary 'Kings of Pastry.'

Tonight (Sept. 16), it fleshed out a good chunk of the rest of its still-evolving program at its annual Kickoff Party, held at the Renaissance New Orleans Arts Hotel.

In addition to the previously announced films -- as well as the usual raft of local-interest films and regional premieres -- Film Society patrons learned the 2010 event will highlighted by appearances from director Taylor Hackford and documentary master D.A. Pennebaker.

Pennebaker and filmmaking partner Chris Hegedus will attend and take questions from the audience after each entry in a four-film retrospective of their work scheduled for the festival's opening weekend. Among the Pennebaker-Hegedus films screening will be their must-see latest film, "Kings of Pastry," the acclaimed 2010 documentary taking a behind-the-scenes look at France's prestigious Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition for pastry chefs.

Other Pennebaker-Hegedus films to screen are 2000's "Down From the Mountain," documenting the recording of the Grammy-winning soundtrack for the Coen brothers film "O Brother Where Art Thou?"; 1993's Oscar-nominated "The War Room," which captured the behind-the-scenes strategizing of James Carville and George Stephanopoulous during Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign; and 1967's "Don't Look Back," a documentary and concert film on Bob Dylan.

In the documentary 'Waiting for Superman,' Davis Guggenheim takes a look at the state of public schools in America.

Other highlights of the newly announced festival slate include:

"Breathless," Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 first feature film, a story of crime and passion, presented in newly restored form.

"Bury the Hatchet," a 2010 documentary focusing on the Mardi Gras Indian culture.

"The Canal Street Madam," a documentary about Jeanette Maier and the New Orleans house of ill repute that captured national headlines in 2002. Natural-born double-bill material for "Love Ranch," it premiered earlier this year at South by Southwest.

"The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," the third and final entry in the Swedish adaptations of Stieg Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy, about the exploits of an investigative journalist and a multi-pierced computer hacker.

"Howl," starring James Franco as Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, and focusing on the legal tussle over the banning of the Ginsberg poem after which the film gets its name.

"John Kennedy Toole: The Omega Point," a documentary about the local author and his Pulitzer-winning novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces."